Razor-strop



(No Model.)

A. V. M. SPRAGUE.

RAZOR STROP.

Patented Oct. 31, 1882.,

N. PETERS. Finale-Lithographer. wasmn c.

UNITED Strains PATENT @ri rce.

AUSTIN V. M. SPRAGUE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

RAZOR-STROP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 266,654, dated October 31, 1882.

Application filed April 17, 1882.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AUSTIN V. M. SPRAGUE,

of Rochester, Monroe county, New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Razor Strops; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan of the strop, looking on the strop side. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same in line 00 a; of Fig. 1. 3 is a cross-section in line 3/ y of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a cross-section in line 2 z of Fig. 2.

My improvement relates to that class of ra- Zor-strops in which a rectangular block of wood is used, provided on two opposite sides with hone-surfaces, and an endless leather strap is employed encircling the block on the two sides at right angles tothehone-surfaees, and a bandle provided with a screw is also employed for the purpose of straining the leather strap.

Heretofore in this class of strops one end of the block has been slotted to form guides through which the endless strap passes, and a nut has been used resting between the guides, and a screw has been used passing through the nut and abutting against the end of the block. This construction is expensive, and the guides or tongues forming the sides to the slot are very liable to split and break, either in the act of finishing the. strop or when in use, as the turning of the screw causes twist upon the nut and the latter produces strain upon the guides or tongues. To obviate these difficulties I make the block in a solid piece, with blunt or rounded ends and having no projecting tongues. I sink at a proper point in the block a loose nut, which rests in a socket prepared for it. I form longitudinally through the center of the block a bore or passage, and in this bore I locate at one end a rod attached permanently to a head-block or plate which receives the endless strap, and at the other end I locate a screw attached to a handle and passing through the nut aforesaid, the end of the screw abutting the end of the rod and forcing it forward as the screw is forced in, all as hereinafter described.

In the drawings,A shows the wooden block, which is square or rectangular in cross-section, and has on two of its opposite faces hone- (No model.)

surfaces at 0, produced by spreading emery or other suitable material thereon.

B shows the endless leather strap which encircles and incloses the block on the two sides at right angles to the hone-surfaces. The block is blunt or rounded at its ends and has no projecting parts, and a circular bore or passage, 1), is made centrally and longitudinally through its whole length. Across-slot, e, which intersects this bore, is made vertically through the block at the proper point, and in this slot is embedded a common square nut d.

D is a screw-shaft attached to the handle E, said screw-shaft being inserted in one end of the bore or passage 1) and screwing through the nut d; and I) is a smooth rod resting in the other end of the bore, said rod being permanently attached at its outer end to a plate, 9, around which the endless strap B passes. As the end of the screw is turned up it strikes the end of the rod and forcesit out, and thus strains the endless strap. The rod simply moves endwise and does not turn axially, and therefore no twisting action is imparted to the strap.

9 is a plate similar to 9, attached permanently to the end of the block A on the bandle side, and serving as a bearing for the strap. This plate may be used or not at pleasure.

By the means above described a good deal of expense is saved in the manufacture of the strop, as no projecting tongues or guides are made at one end, as in ordinary strops of this class. No fitting of a nut between the tongues is required, no outside bearing to the screw is necessary, and no bearing is required to be set into the wood to receive the inner end of the screw. All difliculty arising from the splitting or breaking of these tongues, either in the act of finishing the strop or from the twisting action of the nut between the tongues in use, is obviated.

I do not claim in this application, simply and broadly, a shaft with a screw which strains the endless strap at the end opposite to the handle; nor do I claim broadly such shaft or screw divided in its middle or made in two parts, so that the end of the shaft which strains the endless strap shall have no turning movement on its axis. I am aware that such devices have been used in connection with an endless strap alone, but not, so far as I am aware, with the wooden block and strap com- I 2. In a razor-strep, the combination of the bined, such as above described.

In some cases I employ dowel-pins p p, attached permanently to the plate 9, projecting backward and resting in sockets r r in the end of the block A, as shown in Fig. 2. In such case a true movement is given to the plate out and in, and all twist andstrain are prevented on the strap.

What I claim as new is- 1. The combination of the wooden block A, provided with the centralpassage, b, the nut 01, set into a slot in the body of the block, the endless strap B, encircling the block and free at the end opposite the handle, the rod D, sliding freely in the passage 1), and provided with a plate, 9, over which the strap passes, and the screw-shaft D, attached to the handle,passing through the nut and bearing against the end of the rod, as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

wooden block A, the nut (1, set in a cross-slot of the block, the endless strap B, encircling the block and free at the end opposite the handle, the rod D, sliding freely in the passage b, the screw-shaft D, attached to the handle, passing through the nut and bearing against the rod, and the plate g, attached to the outer end of rod D, and provided with dowels p p, which rest in sockets a" 'r in the end of the block, as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

A. v'. M. SPRAGUE.

\rVitnesses Z. L. DAVIS, R. F. OSGOOD. 

